A Leaky Jupiter-Saturn Barrier and Its Implications for the Inner Oort Cloud

Details A Leaky Jupiter-Saturn Barrier and Its Implications for the Inner Oort Cloud A Leaky Jupiter-Saturn Barrier and Its Implications for the Inner Oort Cloud

Jan 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21533406k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #334.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.434

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

The rate of perihelion change for Oort Cloud orbits due to stellar and galactic perturbations decreases with decreasing semimajor axis. Because of their slower orbital evolution, bodies with semimajor axes below 20,000 AU will be ejected to interstellar space by strong energy kicks from Jupiter and Saturn long before they ever attain near-Earth orbits. Consequently, it has traditionally been thought that the gravitational barrier of Jupiter and Saturn prevents inner Oort Cloud objects (a < 20,000 AU) from evolving to observable long-period comets near Earth except during rare comet showers triggered by very powerful stellar encounters. However, using numerical simulations of long-period comet production, we show that a significant minority of inner Oort Cloud bodies undergo a semimajor axis inflation at the outer edge of the Jupiter-Saturn Barrier. This allows them to avoid ejection and pass near Earth as observable long-period comets. This unaccounted for comet production lowers the mass estimate of the Oort Cloud, making it more compatible with current planet formation theory. In addition, our work indicates that an inner Oort Cloud enriched by the strong gravitational perturbations of the solar birth environment may be the dominant source of long-period comets.

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